Sumner b



(No Model.)

No. 565,403, Patented Aug. 4, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SUMNER B. CAMPBELL, OF WVESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE TEXTILE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

COFFlN-HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,403, dated August 4, 1896.

Application filed May 21, 1896. Serial No. 592,376- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SUMNER B. CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at W'estfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusettshave invented new and useful Improvements in Coffin and other Handles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to handles for coffins and for analogous uses where ornamental handles of comparatively low cost are required, the object being to provide a handle of this class of improved construction in respect to the embodiment in soft-metal handles and parts thereof of internal strengthening features; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of means for strengthening the escutcheon thereof, all as hereinafter fully described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of the under side, and Fig. 2 is a like view of the outer side, of a coffin-handle embodying my improvements, each of said figures showing a part of a handle-bar passing through the droparm of the device. The drop-arm in Fig. 2 is shown in a depending position. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4

is a perspective view of the stiffening and strengthening metallic parts which are embedded in the escutcheon and drop-arm of the handle construction, as below described.

In the drawings, A is the escutcheon of the handle, the latter comprising said escutcheon and drop-arm thereto pivoted, as shown and below set forth. B indicates the said droparm, and D is the handle-bar. Said escutcheon A constitutes, as usual in this class of constructions, the ornamental base-plate or escutcheon, which is attached to an object closely thereagainst by suitable screws. Said escutcheon has the screw-holes 2 therethrough for the above-named purpose, and its under 'side is chambered sufficiently to allow the inner extremity of the drop-arm B the required free-swinging movement and. to provide for properly placing the below-described stiffening and strengthening parts therein. An opening 3 is provided through said escutcheon having suitable upstanding ears 8 on its opposite borders through which the outer ends of a pivot-pin 4, which is driven through the head 5 of said drop-arm, extend, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Said drop-arm swings on said pin 4 and its head 5 swings within said opening 3 in the escutcheon when the droparm is lifted or dropped downward. A shoulder 6 on said arm strikes against an abutment 7 on the escutcheon when said arm is swung to a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 3. The end of said arm from said shoulder 6 thereon to its adjoining extremity is curved, as is usual in such constructions, whereby the said opening 3 is caused .to be constantly closed whatever may be the position of said drop-arm. As above set forth, the said pin 4, on which said drop-arm swings, engages by its ends in said ears 8 on the escutcheon, but the considerable strain upon said pin when a heavy weight is lifted by means of said arm requires that said ears, and said arm likewise,

be reinforced by their union with a stronger metal than the soft white metal of which said escutcheon and arm are ordinarily made; and it is furthermore deemed desirable that the parts of the escutcheon contiguous to the point of engagement therewith of said droparm be likewise strengthened, to the end that they shall unyieldingly resist the strain consequent upon their connection With said arm and to provide stronger means for the engagement of screws with the escutcheon than is afforded by the said soft metal. To this end, a metal frame K, Fig. 4, consisting, preferably, of a strip of steel, bent to form, integrally, the below-described strengthening elements, is provided and embedded in said escutcheon by casting the metal of the latter around it in a suitable mold. Said frame K contains the cross-bar 9, of double thickness of metal, the diverging arms 10 having curved extremities w and the arms 12 each having a hook 13 thereon. The said frame K is embedded in the metal of said escutcheon within the several ribs J thereunder in the position indicated in full and in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2 and "in section in Fig. 3. The said disposition of the structural elements of said frame K results in bringing said double bar 9 to a position across the escutcheon near and parallel to said pivotpin 4:, whereby said bar forms a solid strong base for the engagement of the inner or short lever end of said drop-arm B, as below described, and a stiffening-bar extending nearly across and within the metal of the escutcheon about centrally between the ends thereof, thereby essentially reinforcing the same at that part thereof in which said opening 3 is made to receive the pivoted end of the droparm. The said arms 12, extending from said bar 9, have each a hook 13 thereon, which occupies such a position in the escutcheon that said two hooks become embedded in said two cars 8 8 and embrace the two extremities of said pivot-pin at (see Fig. 4) on which the drop-arm B is hung, (see dotted-line indication, Fig. 3,)thereby providing such reinforced engagement of said pin with the body of the escutcheon and with said bar 9, as shown in said last-named figure, as obviates all danger of breakage under any ordinary lifting strain that said drop-arm may be subjected to. Said arms 10 of frame K within the body of the escutcheon extend from said bar 9, as indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, to the lower screw-holes 2 2 therein,

and the said curved ends 00 x of said arms 10 ext-end under said screw-holes in position to have more or less of a hooking engagement in directly with the screws which pass through said lower holes to fasten the escutcheon to a box or cofiin, which lower screws are subjected to the principal lifting strain through said drop-arm, as aforesaid. Said drop-arm B is reinforced by casting in the soft metal thereof the metallic bar P, through which, in 1 common with the body of said arm, the said The pivot-pin 4 passes, as shown in Fig. 3.

inner extremity I: of said bar P engages directly with the said bar 9 when the drop-arm is in lifting position, as in said last-named figure, and thereby two hard unyielding surfaces of the device are brought in contact and the part of said arm between its pivotpoint and its handle-bar ring is strengthened. The outer end 10 of said bar P extends in curved form over the part of the said handlebar ring on said drop-arm against which the handle-bar D is forced when said drop-arm is in lifting position, as aforesaid, and reinforces said ring at the part thereof above referred to.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A strengtheningframe for handle-cscutcheons for coffins and analogous articles consisting of a metal bar, two divergingarms extending from one side of said bar having curved extremities, and two other arms each having a hook formed on its extremity extending from one edge of said bar, substan tially as set forth.

2. In a soft-metal escutcheon for coffins and other handles, having parts thereon for the pivotal connection of a drop-arm therewith, a strengthening-frame for said escutcheon embedded therein consisting of a metal bar extending across the same midway of its ends, and two arms extending from one edge of said bar, each of said two arms having a hook thereon for engagement with the opposite ends of the pivot-pin of said drop-arm, substantially as set forth.

SUMNER B. CAMPBELL.

Witnesses:

H. A. CHAPIN, K. I. CLEMONS. 

